Ty Smith died in January 2007 of injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, but no one has been held criminally responsible for his death. / Courtesy of RPD

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At least two cases involving shaken babies remain unsolved in Washoe County, mainly because they're the toughest kind to prove.

Police and prosecutors said they have to prove who had exclusive care of a child when the baby was shaken. That can be difficult when multiple people cared for a child. Medical experts frequently are unable to pinpoint when a child suffered the injuries.

"When the child dies, we can't get a statement from them," said Sgt. Greg Curry, a former supervisor in the Reno police child abuse and sex crimes unit. "What talks to us is the medical reports."

Tina Hailer's 8-month-old son last year was diagnosed with brain damage caused by being shaken. It allegedly occurred while the child was under the care of a Sparks day care provider.

Although someone was arrested in the case, prosecutors have said they don't have enough evidence to file charges because of differing medical opinions about when the injuries happened.

"I have to be OK with whatever (prosecutors) do," Hailer said. "It's hard. There's an arrest, and then no charges. It makes it hard to have faith in the legal system."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Greco, who has prosecuted child abuse cases for two decades, said the biggest hurdle is proving who inflicted the injuries.

"Child abuse cases are unique in that there are rarely witnesses other than the suspect and the child," he said. "In many cases, the child will be unable to testify because he or she is deceased, too young to testify, or has suffered a traumatic brain injury which renders him or her incapable of communicating fully."

Such was the case of 32-day-old Ty Smith, who died in January 2007 from what medical experts called shaken baby syndrome injuries. Detectives said they have evidence of abuse, but no one has been held criminally responsible for his death.

"Do we just forget? That baby was murdered," said retired Reno police Detective Tom Broome, a lead investigator in the case. "He was not born with these injuries. There were limited people who took care of him.

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"How does this death just go away without explanation? Where is the justice for Ty?"

Ty Smith's parents, Michelle and Craig, were arrested several months after the infant's 2007 death on suspicion of child neglect causing death. The district attorney has not filed charges against the couple, citing a lack of evidence. The case was sent back to detectives for further investigation and hasn't been resubmitted to the district attorney's office.

A message seeking comment from the Smiths was not returned.

A lawyer for the family, Dave Houston, said the boy's death was a result of natural causes and denied any abuse occurred. He called the determination by the county's medical examiner of homicide by child abuse a "knee-jerk reaction" to the infant's death.

Houston cited new studies, such as a 2009 analysis in the Washington University Law Review, that said medical conditions cause injuries that appear to have come from being shaken and that injuries do not always appear immediately after abuse.

"Noncriminal injuries can exist absent any signs of trauma," Houston said. "To say a child was shaken is a widely used diagnosis that subjects innocent people to prosecution."

County Medical Examiner Dr. Ellen Clark said the medical community does not accept the new theories. "You have to invoke common sense," Clark said.

"If all children died under the circumstances of what the perpetrators are reporting, there would be no surviving children."